[House Hearing, 116 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



 
                  SOLVING AMERICA'S CHILD CARE CRISIS:
             SUPPORTING PARENTS, CHILDREN, AND THE ECONOMY

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

               SUBCOMMITTEE EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY,
                        AND SECONDARY EDUCATION


                         COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                               AND LABOR
                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                     ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

            HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, FEBRUARY 6, 2020

                               __________

                           Serial No. 116-52

                               __________

      Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
      
      
      
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]      
      


           Available via the World Wide Web: www.govinfo.gov
                                   or
              Committee address: https://edlabor.house.gov
              
              
              
                            ______                       


             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
39-732 PDF           WASHINGTON : 2021              
              
              
              
                    COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR

             ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman

Susan A. Davis, California           Virginia Foxx, North Carolina,
Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona            Ranking Member
Joe Courtney, Connecticut            David P. Roe, Tennessee
Marcia L. Fudge, Ohio                Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan,      Tim Walberg, Michigan
  Northern Mariana Islands           Brett Guthrie, Kentucky
Frederica S. Wilson, Florida         Bradley Byrne, Alabama
Suzanne Bonamici, Oregon             Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Mark Takano, California              Elise M. Stefanik, New York
Alma S. Adams, North Carolina        Rick W. Allen, Georgia
Mark DeSaulnier, California          Lloyd Smucker, Pennsylvania
Donald Norcross, New Jersey          Jim Banks, Indiana
Pramila Jayapal, Washington          Mark Walker, North Carolina
Joseph D. Morelle, New York          James Comer, Kentucky
Susan Wild, Pennsylvania             Ben Cline, Virginia
Josh Harder, California              Russ Fulcher, Idaho
Lucy McBath, Georgia                 Steve Watkins, Kansas
Kim Schrier, Washington              Ron Wright, Texas
Lauren Underwood, Illinois           Daniel Meuser, Pennsylvania
Jahana Hayes, Connecticut            Dusty Johnson, South Dakota
Donna E. Shalala, Florida            Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
Andy Levin, Michigan*                Gregory F. Murphy, North Carolina
Ilhan Omar, Minnesota                Jefferson Van Drew, New Jersey
David J. Trone, Maryland
Haley M. Stevens, Michigan
Susie Lee, Nevada
Lori Trahan, Massachusetts
Joaquin Castro, Texas
* Vice-Chair

                   Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
                 Brandon Renz, Minority Staff Director
                                 ------                                

   SUBCOMMITTEE EARLY CHILDHOOD, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

   GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, Northern Mariana Islands, Chairman

Kim Schrier, Washington              Rick W. Allen, Georgia,
Jahana Hayes, Connecticut              Ranking Member
Donna E. Shalala, Florida            Glenn ``GT'' Thompson, 
Susan A. Davis, California               Pennsylvania
Frederica S. Wilson, Florida         Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Mark DeSaulnier, California          Fred Keller, Pennsylvania
Joseph D. Morelle, New York

                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page

Hearing held on February 6, 2020.................................     1

Statement of Members:
     Allen, Hon. Rick W., Ranking Member, Subcommittee Early 
      Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.............     3
        Prepared statement of....................................     4
    Sablan, Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho, Chairman, Subcommittee 
      Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education.......     1
        Prepared statement of....................................     3

Statement of Witnesses:
    Gonzalez, Ms. Angelica M., Parent/Law Clerk Momsrising/Lane 
      Powell.....................................................    33
        Prepared statement of....................................    35
    Harvey, Ms. Nancy, Child Care Provider, Lil Nancy's Primary 
      Schoolhouse................................................    20
        Prepared statement of....................................    22
    Morrissey, Ms. Taryn, Ph.D., Dean's Scholar Associate 
      Professor, School of Public Affairs, American University...     7
        Prepared statement of....................................     9
    Smith, Ms. Linda, Director, Early Childhood Initiative, 
      Bipartisan Policy Center...................................    24
        Prepared statement of....................................    27

Additional Submissions:
    Foxx, Hon. Virginia, a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of North Carolina:...................................
        Report: Child Care and Early Education...................    76
        LINK: United States Government Accountability Office 
          (GAO) Report September 2019............................   121
    DeSaulnier, Hon. Mark, a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of California:.......................................
        Prepared statement from Early Care and Education 
          Organizing Network.....................................    70
        Prepared statement from The Century Foundation 100.......    72
    Chairman Sablan:.............................................
        Prepared statement from Zero To Three....................   122
        Report: Working Families Are Spending Big Money On Child 
          Care...................................................   128
        Letter dated February 15, 2019 from U.S. Government 
          Accountability Office (GAO)............................   138
        Report: Wanting To Grow The Economy?.....................   171
        Is America Under-Investing In Its Young Children?........   179
        Why Child Care Is So Ridiculously Expensive?.............   187
        Prepared statement from ChildCare Aware..................   192
        Link: Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018...............   195
    Schrier, Hon. Kim, a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of Washington:.......................................
        Prepared statement from United States Government 
          Accountability Office (GAO)............................   196
    Shalala, Hon. Donna E., a Representative in Congress from the 
      State of Florida:..........................................
        The Grand Plan Hear From Grandparents Who Provide Child 
          Care...................................................   215
    Questions submitted for the record by:
        Morelle, Hon. Joseph D., a Representative in Congress 
          from the State of New York 



        Ms. Schrier 



        Scott, Hon. Robert C. ``Bobby'' , a Representative in 
          Congress from the State of Virginia 



    Responses submitted for the record by:
        Ms. Harvey...............................................   246
        Ms Morrissey.............................................   249
        Ms. Smith................................................   260


                  SOLVING AMERICA'S CHILD CARE CRISIS:

             SUPPORTING PARENTS, CHILDREN, AND THE ECONOMY

                              ----------                              


                       Thursday, February 6, 2020

                       House of Representatives,

  Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

                    Committee on Education and Labor

                            Washington, D.C.

                              ----------                              

    The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a.m., in 
Room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Gregorio Kilili 
Sablan (Chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
    Present: Representatives Sablan, Schrier, Hayes, Shalala, 
Davis, DeSaulnier, Allen, Grothman, and Keller.
    Also Present: Representatives Foxx, and Scott.
    Staff Present: Paula Daneri, Professional Staff; Emma 
Eatman, Press Assistant; Christian Haines, General Counsel; 
Ariel Jona, Staff Assistant; Stephanie Lalle, Deputy 
Communications Director; Jaria Martin, Clerk/Special Assistant 
to the Staff Director; Max Moore, Staff Assistant; Veronique 
Pluviose, Staff Director; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of 
Information Technology; Joshua Weisz, Communications Director; 
Cyrus Artz, Minority Parliamentarian; Courtney Butcher, 
Minority Director of Member Services and Coalitions; Amy Raaf 
Jones, Minority Director of Education and Human Resources 
Policy; Hannah Matesic, Minority Director of Operations; Audra 
McGeorge, Minority Communications Director; Jake Middlebrooks, 
Minority Professional Staff Member; Carlton Norwood, Minority 
Press Secretary; Chance Russell, Minority Legislative 
Assistant; and Mandy Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and 
Deputy Director of Education.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. The Subcommittee on Early 
Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education will come to 
order. Good morning, and welcome everyone.
    I note that a quorum is present.
    So, the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and 
Secondary Education is meeting today in a legislative hearing 
to hear testimony on solving America's child care crisis, 
supporting parents, children, and of course the economy.
    Pursuant to Committee Rule 7(c) opening statements are 
limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member, and this allows us 
to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides all members with 
adequate time to ask questions.
    I recognize myself now for the purpose of making an opening 
statement.
    Good Morning. Thank you for taking the time to join us in 
today's hearing.
    The cost of child care in America has gone up 2,000 percent 
in the last 40 years--2,000 percent. The average cost of full-
time child care is now $16,000 per year and that is about half 
the median income for a single parent, almost the same as the 
average annual cost of in-state tuition at a public university. 
Across America, working parents are struggling to make sure 
their young children have decent, high-quality child care and 
at an affordable price.
    So, this morning, we are here to find out how the Federal 
Government can better support families around the country find 
and afford high-quality child care.
    It is also important to remember that this is not just a 
problem for young families raising children. There is a larger 
social and economic impact on all of us when our youngest 
children do not get the care they need. It is now well-
established the first 5 years of life are critical for 
cognitive and intellectual development, particularly the 
development of language. More than that, the first 5 years are 
when socio-emotional skills develop. I wish I had good child 
care when I was 5-years-old.
    Self-control, persistence, and the ability to cooperate 
with others begin to develop in early childhood. If we fail to 
invest in those early years, we all pay the price later in 
higher incarceration rates, poor health, and reduced 
performance in school and the workplace.
    On the other hand, educating our children in their earliest 
years is recognized as having among the highest return on 
investment of public funds. Every dollar spent on early 
childhood education results in eight dollars of social 
benefits, according to a 2015 report from the President's 
Council of Economic Advisers. That benefit is mostly in the 
form of increased earnings when those children we invest in, go 
to work. But we should also see the benefit today: Our economy 
loses $57 billion each year because American workers miss time 
at work or leave the workforce when they cannot find or afford 
child care. We can avoid that present cost and see economic 
benefits in the future if we are willing to go to work in this 
subcommittee to address the need for early childhood education 
and face the crisis in child care.
    Boy this is harder than I thought. Okay.
    So, I look forward to hearing the ideas of our witnesses--
we do have a proposal on the table it is called the Child Care 
for Working Families Act. It supports families by capping how 
much they pay for child care and invests in the child care 
workforce, so the people who care for our children are finally 
also recognized as the teachers they truly are. And I am sure 
there is more we could do.
    So, I look forward to hearing the ideas of our witnesses 
today and I now recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Allen, for 
his opening statement.
    [The statement of Chairman Sablan follows:]

 Prepared Statement of Hon. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, Chairman, 
   Subcommittee Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    Good Morning! The cost of child care in America has gone up 2,000 
percent in the last 40 years. 2,000 percent! The average cost of full-
time child care is now $16,000 per year. That is about half the median 
income for a single parent. Almost the same as the average annual cost 
of in-state tuition at a public university. Across America, working 
parents are struggling to make sure their young children have decent, 
high-quality child care--at an affordable price. So, this morning, we 
are here to find out how the federal government can better support 
families around the country find and afford high-quality child care.
    It is also important to remember that this is not just a problem 
for young families raising children. There is a larger social and 
economic impact on all of us, when our youngest children do not get the 
care they need. It is now well- established the first five years of 
life are critical for cognitive and intellectual development--
particularly, the development of language.
    More than that, the first five years are when socio-emotional 
skills develop. I wish I had early child care when I was 5 years old. 
Self-control, persistence, and the ability to cooperate with others 
begin to develop in early childhood. If we fail to invest in those 
early years, we all pay the price later in higher incarceration rates, 
poor health, and reduced performance in school and the workplace.
    On the other hand, educating our children in their earliest years 
is recognized as having among the highest returns on investment of 
public funds. Every dollar spent on early childhood education results 
in eight dollars of social benefits, according to a 2015 report from 
the President's Council of Economic Advisers. That benefit is mostly in 
the form of increased earnings, when those children we invest in, go to 
work.
    But we would also see the benefit today: Our economy loses $57 
billion each year because American workers miss time at work or leave 
the workforce when they cannot find or afford child care. We can avoid 
that present cost and see economic benefits in the future, if we are 
willing to go to work in this subcommittee to address the need for 
early childhood education and face the crisis in child care.
    We do have a proposal on the table: It is called the Child Care for 
Working Families Act. It supports families by capping how much they pay 
for child care and invests in the child care workforce; so, the people 
who care for our children are finally recognized as the teachers they 
truly are. And I am sure there is more we could do.
    So, I look forward to hearing the ideas of our witnesses today. I 
now recognize the Ranking Member, Mr. Allen, for his opening statement.
                                 ______
                                 
    Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and we are glad to be 
here today. Thank you for being here and taking time to share 
with us about these and other important issues.
    Parents are the ultimate decider of their child's care and 
education no matter the child's age. In fact, the Federal 
Government funds several early childhood care programs to 
achieve this end and it is the job of Congress to make sure 
these Federally funded program provide parents options that 
will offer a strong foundation for the future success of their 
children.
    Not only do these programs provide stability for children, 
but then also support parents who want to continue pursuing an 
education or a career. Lack of affordable child care can result 
in employee absences and turnover, which in turn imposes 
significant costs to employers and impacts the overall economic 
development. Several states have estimated losses between $1 
and $2 billion annually due to child care related absence and 
turnover.
    Federal funding for child care dates back to the 1930s, 
showcasing the Government's extensive commitment to this 
important initiative. This funding totals over $15 billion a 
year, and that number doesn't include individual state or local 
funding. I am proud to say that Georgia, my home state, has 
long been an innovator and is home to the oldest universal pre-
kindergarten program in the country.
    However, the current piecemeal approach the Federal 
Government has taken in funding early childhood care and 
education programs is shortsighted and has resulted in costly, 
fragmented, and overlapping programs. This needs to be 
addressed in order to provide better options for parents.
    In contrast to what the landscape of early care and 
education looked like when these Federal programs were created, 
states are now leading the way in offering early childhood 
services for vulnerable youth and working families. Local 
programs are more responsive to the diverse needs of different 
families and communities, and their recent growth makes a 
review of the federal Government's role in operating these 
programs all the more necessary.
    It is encouraging news to see how states' role in the child 
care programs has changed significantly over the past 90 years, 
fundamentally changing how programs are funded and serving 
specific groups of vulnerable, at risk children. In fact, every 
state now reports some type of early childhood care or 
education program. The majority of these programs are funded 
with multiple sources of State, Federal, and local funds, which 
broadens the reach of services provided to children and 
families, but also presents challenges such as reconciling 
different eligibility and reporting requirements.
    While states' roles in funding of early childhood programs 
has helped create high-quality options for families, the 
Federal Government's involvement in this space has grown into 
an overly burdensome, costly, and confusing network of 
programs.
    The bottom line is we all agree that supporting children's 
development in the early years is critical as it builds a 
strong foundation for future success. We don't want to lose one 
child. And we agree that high-quality child care is a critical 
support for working families. But overlap, duplication, and 
fragmentation among programs remains an issue and demands a 
thoughtful and complete examination from Congress rather than 
the piecemeal approach taken in years past or simply throwing 
more money at a convoluted system without addressing the 
underlying issues.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on how 
we can best reform and improve the Federal Government's role in 
early childhood programs.
    Thank you and I yield back.
    [The statement of Mr. Allen follows:]

Prepared Statement of Hon. Rick W. Allen, Ranking Member, Subcommittee 
          Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education

    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Parents are the ultimate decider of their 
child's care and education, no matter the child's age. In fact, the 
federal government funds several early childhood care and education 
programs to achieve this end, and it is the job of Congress to make 
sure these federally funded programs provide parents' options that will 
offer a strong foundation for the future success of their children.
    Not only do these programs provide stability for children, but they 
also support parents who want to continue pursuing an education or a 
career. Lack of affordable child care can result in employee absences 
and turnover, which, in turn, imposes significant costs to employers 
and impacts overall economic development. Several states have estimated 
losses between $1-$2 billion annually due to child care-related absence 
and turnover.
    Federal funding for child care dates back to the 1930s, showcasing 
the government's extensive commitment to this important initiative. 
This funding totals over $15 billion dollars a year--and that number 
doesn't include individual state or local funding. I am proud to say 
that Georgia has long been an innovator and is home to the oldest 
universal prekindergarten program in the country.
    However, the current piecemeal approach the federal government has 
taken in funding early childhood care and education programs is 
shortsighted and has resulted in costly, fragmented, and overlapping 
programs. This needs to be addressed in order to provide better options 
for parents.
    In contrast to what the landscape of early care and education 
looked like when these federal programs were created, states are now 
leading the way in offering early childhood services for vulnerable 
youth and working families.
    Local programs are more responsive to the diverse needs of 
different families and communities, and their recent growth makes a 
review of the federal government's role in operating these programs all 
the more necessary.
    It's encouraging news to see how states' role in child care 
programs has changed significantly over the past 90 years, 
fundamentally changing how programs are funded and serving specific 
groups of vulnerable, at-risk children.
    In fact, every state now reports some type of early childhood care 
or education program. The majority of these programs are funded with 
multiple sources of state, federal, and local funds, which broadens the 
reach of services provided to children and families, but also presents 
challenges such as reconciling different eligibility and reporting 
requirements.
    While states' role in funding early childhood programs has helped 
create high-quality options for families, the federal government's 
involvement in this space has grown into an overly burdensome, costly, 
and confusing network of programs.
    The bottom line is, we all agree that supporting children's 
development in the early years is critical as it builds a strong 
foundation for future success. And we agree that high-quality child 
care is a critical support for working families. But overlap, 
duplication, and fragmentation among programs remains an issue and 
demands a thoughtful and complete examination from Congress, rather 
than the piecemeal approach taken in years past or simply throwing more 
money at a convoluted system without addressing the underlying issues.
    I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today on how we can 
best reform and improve the federal governments' role in early 
childhood programs.
                                 ______
                                 
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Mr. Allen, Ranking 
Member.
    Without objection, all other witnesses who wish to insert 
written statements into the record may do so by submitting them 
to the Committee Clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format 
by 5:00 p.m. on or by February 20.
    I will now introduce our witnesses.
    Let me try this, Dr. Taryn Morrissey. Did I get that right? 
Dr. Morrissey is a School of Public Affairs Dean Scholar 
Associate Professor of Public Policy at American University. I 
told my daughter that you were a witness because she went to 
your university. Her work focuses on examining and improving 
public policies for children, including early care and 
education, nutrition assistance, and public health policies. 
She is co-author of ``Cradle to Kindergarten: A New Plan to 
Combat Inequality''. And her research has been published in 
numerous academic journals. Dr. Morrissey received a Ph.D. in 
developmental psychology from Cornell University and a Bachelor 
of Science from Tufts University.
    Welcome, Dr. Morrissey.
    Ms. Nancy Harvey is a family child care provider and child 
care advocate from West Oakland, California. Ms. Harvey left a 
career as an elementary school teacher after noticing that 
black and brown children were starting behind their white peers 
and she opened a family child care focused on children's 
crucial zero to three years more than fifteen years ago. She 
walked the talk--is that how they say it?
    Ms. Harvey has been a leader in efforts to raise local 
revenue to expand child care access and raise pay for early 
educators like herself.
    Ms. Linda Smith is the director of the Bipartisan Policy 
Center's Early Childhood Development Initiative. She most 
recently served as the deputy assistant secretary for Early 
Childhood Development in the Administration for Children and 
Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 
Ms. Smith began her career in early childhood education on the 
Northern Cheyenne Reservation in her native state of Montana. 
Please, I would like to come visit one day. I have been there. 
And she is a graduate of the University of Montana.
    Welcome, Madam Secretary.
    Ms. Angelica Maria Gonzalez is a mother of three children 
living in Seattle who has long struggled to find and maintain 
reliable quality affordable child care. The lack of 
availability, unaffordable, and affordability in the child care 
sector prevented Ms. Gonzalez from working to her fullest 
potential and has played a primary role in her struggle to 
remain stably housed and employed.
    Despite having difficulty meeting her fullest potential, 
Ms. Gonzalez advocates for greater investments in child care 
which are key to helping families, communities, and the 
economy. And in addition, moreover, she holds a BA from the 
University of Washington and recently graduated with her JD 
from Seattle University School of Law.
    Wow, you have been busy, Ms. Gonzalez. And welcome.
    Welcome to all of you. And we appreciate all the witnesses 
for being here today and look forward to your testimony.
    Let me remind the witnesses that we have read your written 
statements and they will appear in full in the hearing record.
    Pursuant to Committee Rule 7(d) and committee practice, 
each of you is asked to limit your oral presentation to a 5-
minute summary of your written statement.
    Let me remind the witnesses that pursuant to Title 18 of 
the U.S. Code, Section 1001, it is illegal to knowingly and 
willfully falsify any statement, representation, writing, 
document, or material fact presented to Congress, or otherwise 
conceal or cover up a material fact.
    Before you begin your testimony please remember to press 
the button on the microphone in front of you so that it will 
turn on and the members can hear you. As you begin to speak the 
light in front of you will turn green. After 4 minutes the 
light will turn yellow to signal that you have 1 minute 
remaining. When the light turns red, your 5 minutes have 
expired and we ask that you please wrap up.
    We will let the entire panel make their presentations 
before we move to member questions. When answering a question, 
please remember to once again turn your microphone on.
    I will first recognize Dr. Morrissey. Dr. Morrissey, you 
have 5 minutes.

TESTIMONY OF TARYN MORRISSEY, Ph .D., DEAN'S SCHOLAR ASSOCIATE 
    PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

    Ms. Morrissey. Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member Allen, and 
distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the 
opportunity to testify today.
    My name is Taryn Morrissey and I am an associate professor 
in the School of Public Affairs at American University in 
Washington, D.C. Today I will focus on two points, one, high-
quality early care and education is hard to find and 
unaffordable for many American families across the income 
spectrum, two, public under investment in early care and 
education perpetuates and widens economic inequality among 
children, parents, and early care and education workers. The 
bottom line is that the lack of affordable high-quality 
reliable early care and education is a lost opportunity for 
supporting children's development, for supporting parents' 
employment, for supporting economic growth, and narrowing 
inequality.
    Most young children in the United States live in homes in 
which all parents are employed. In turn, 61 percent of children 
under age 5 attend child care each week. But high-quality early 
care and education, or any licensed arrangement, is hard to 
find. We know from a wealth of research that high-quality care 
and education during the early years, a rapid time of brain 
development, promotes children's learning and holds promise in 
narrowing the socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic inequalities 
that emerge early, well before kindergarten or even pre-k. 
Licensed child care arrangements that meet regulations are more 
likely to provide high-quality stable care than less formal 
arrangements, but about half of people in the United States 
live in child care deserts.
    Child care is also expensive. The U.S. Department of Health 
and Human Services recommends that families' out-of-pocket 
child care costs not exceed 7 percent of income. But families 
below the poverty line spend roughly 30 percent of their 
incomes on child care. Even higher income families spend 
between 8 and 18 percent of their incomes, about $9,000 a year, 
on child care. Regulated settings and center care cost even 
more than informal arrangements.
    It is not surprising then that children from high income 
families are much more likely to attend preschool and center 
care than their middle or low-income peers. In 2011 only 2/3s 
of 4-year olds in moderate income families attended center 
based early care and education programs, compared to more than 
80 percent of those from higher income families.
    Why is child care, especially high-quality child care, so 
sparse and expensive--because the quality of early care and 
education depends on the warmth and responsiveness of 
caregivers and on the strength of adult-child relationships. 
Economies of scale simply don't apply to the child care sector 
in the same way as other economic sectors and most child care 
costs are directed toward labor.
    Despite its expense, child care would actually cost more if 
child care workers were paid adequate wages. In 2018 the median 
hourly wage for child care workers was $11.17, 33 percent less 
than that for bus drivers. More than half of child care workers 
live in families that participate in one or more public 
assistance programs. Low pay and few benefits present barriers 
in attracting and retaining a skilled workforce and high 
teacher turnover affects care quality and a range of children's 
outcomes.
    As a result, too many children spend their days in mediocre 
or low-quality care or across a patchwork of arrangements. A 
missed opportunity for promoting their school readiness and 
their long-term educational, economic, and health outcomes.
    The lack of child care also negatively affects parents' 
work, family income and economic growth. Just like affordable, 
reliable transportation, affordable, reliable child care is an 
economic infrastructure component essential for many parents, 
including myself, to get to work. Nearly 9 in 10 parents report 
that problems with child care hurt their efforts at work. Some 
parents drop out of the workforce altogether at a high cost to 
themselves and their families. The U.S. loses an estimated $57 
billion each year from the lack of affordable, reliable child 
care.
    There are effective policy solutions that make a big 
difference to the families who participate in them. Child care 
subsidies, state pre-K programs, and Head Start increase 
children's enrollment at center care, and when high-quality, 
support children's development. Programs that reduce parents' 
child care costs increase parents' labor force participation. 
Studies also show that investments in child care have 
multiplier effects, meaning that each dollar invested generates 
local economic activity. Researchers estimate that increasing 
enrollment in early childhood education would yield economic 
benefits and reduce inequality.
    The 2014 Reauthorization of the Child Care and Development 
Block Grant was an important step toward improving child care 
quality and expanding access to subsidies.
    Several states, such as Washington, Oregon, and California 
are investing more in early childhood, building on the Federal-
State partnership of CCDBG. But our public programs still reach 
only a fraction of children who might benefit. For example, in 
2015 only 1 in 6 eligible children received childcare 
subsidies. More public investment is needed to help ease the 
cost burden for families across the income spectrum and ensure 
that a trained stable workforce has adequate compensation.
    In closing, increased access to affordable, high-quality, 
reliable early care and education can promote children's 
development, support parents' employment, increase economic 
growth, and narrow inequality.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify here today.
    [The statement of Ms. Morrissey follows:]   
    
 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]  
 
      

    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Dr. Morrissey.
    And now I will recognize Ms. Harvey for 5 minutes please.

  TESTIMONY OF NANCY HARVEY, CHILD CARE PROVIDER, LIL NANCY'S 
                      PRIMARY SCHOOLHOUSE

    Ms. Harvey. Ranking Member Allen and members of the 
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
    My name is Nancy Harvey. I am child care provider and the 
owner of Lil Nancy's Primary Schoolhouse, a home-based child 
care program in Oakland, California.
    I am honored to speak with you today about our country's 
child care crisis and share my thoughts on how working parents, 
child care providers, and elected leaders can work together to 
address these issues.
    I am truly passionate about early childhood education. Over 
17 years ago I left a career as an elementary school educator 
in Oakland so that I could focus on ensuring that more children 
have a head start in learning in their crucial early years. 
Over the years, I have seen the joys of helping prepare 
beautiful little people for the world and the challenges 
parents face in providing for them.
    My family child care program focuses on children ages 0 to 
4 years. A hallmark of Lil Nancy's Primary Schoolhouse is a low 
staff-to-child ratio, which promotes increased learning and 
prevents education gaps. Legally, I am only required to have 
one assistant, but currently I have four. We teach children 
early, language arts, math, science, and social skills and take 
them on educational field trips. I am also proud that my 
program is a place that nurtures future educators. I make a 
point of hiring interns from local high schools who want to 
pursue a degree in education.
    But Lil Nancy's Primary Schoolhouse is also an important 
resource for a diverse set of families, from single mothers 
accessing state assistance while in school and in entry level 
jobs, to business executives. The parents I serve consider me a 
friend and a counselor.
    Although my work is very fulfilling, it comes with its 
share of challenges. Too often, child care providers struggle 
to keep our doors open and are not paid enough to provide for 
our own families. The cost for utilities, educational 
resources, healthy food, and other operating expenses are 
rising, but I can't raise tuition because many parents simply 
can't afford it. This revenue gap leaves me often coming up 
short. In the past I have had to make catch-up payments to 
Pacific Gas & Electric and juggle other major bills. I have 
seen other family child care programs either close or relocate 
as costs rise and the revenue needed to keep our businesses 
solvent is harder to find.
    This impacts children, parents, and our communities. How 
are we supposed to teach children to grow up with dignity and 
respect when all too often it is so hard to feel this ourselves 
because we struggle to pay bills, plan for a financially secure 
future, and have our critically important jobs overlooked by so 
many of those in power. In spite of all of this, I am committed 
to remaining in this industry and making it better.
    Years ago, I joined together with thousands of other family 
child care providers to fight for changes to our system. After 
more than a decade we won our right to form a union last fall 
when Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill giving 40,000 
family child care providers this right, and now we have begun 
our election process. For us, having a union means that we can 
raise up our profession and advocate for our communities and 
our children.
    To build that best in the world child care system we will 
need the commitment and leadership of parents, providers, and 
elected officials from every part of the country. We need, 
number one, to expand the child care program to make early 
education more accessible and affordable so that every child 
has what they need to succeed, two, giving child care providers 
a voice in the system--we are expert at how children develop 
and should have a seat at the table--and increasing child care 
subsidies reimbursement rates so that they truly cover the cost 
of providing high-quality care. Whether you are an educator, 
parent, or grandparent or voter, we all owe it to the next 
generation to stand together and show them we can lead the way 
to a better future.
    Lets not forget, child care providers keep America working.
    Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
    [The statement of Ms. Harvey follows:]
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    
        

    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Ms. Harvey.
    I would now like to recognize Ms. Smith, Secretary Smith. 
You have 5 minutes.

TESTIMONY OF LINDA SMITH, DIRECTOR, EARLY CHILDHOOD INITIATIVE, 
                    BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER

    Ms. Smith. Thank you. Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member 
Allen, and members of the committee, I want to thank you for 
convening this very important hearing today.
    As was said, my name is Linda Smith and I am the director 
of the Early Childhood Initiative at the Bipartisan Policy 
Center. In addition to serving in the Department of Health and 
Human Services, I also spent 25 years working with the 
Department of Defense implementing the military's child care 
program, which is a model still today.
    I want to go back and look at child care in terms of what 
is going on in this country right now. I believe it is time to 
reconsider a new re-imagined system rooted in principles, with 
clear goals in mind, and a recognition that parents are front 
and center. By thinking big and bold we can ensure tomorrow's 
workforce can grow and our families can prosper.
    It is time to take a look at the system that we have and 
think about some principles that we can use as we move forward 
to build a better system for all of our children. Parents rely 
on a market--based system of child care that includes a diverse 
set of options. Demand for child care is higher than ever 
before, particularly for infants and toddlers. Sadly, the 
market is reaching a breaking point. With a supply that does 
not meet the demand, the cost to produce service exceeding what 
parents can pay, and more and more child care businesses unable 
to operate successfully.
    The government's involvement in child care was established 
decades ago when our society was dramatically different and the 
neuroscience had yet to evolve. Now it is time to rethink child 
care in America. The entire system needs to be re-imagined and 
our traditional ways of thinking about things need to be 
reevaluated. We cannot talk about child care without 
considering the multitude of programs and funding streams that 
support working families and contribute--sometimes even 
create--the problems that we see in the marketplace today.
    To evolve we must look beyond this system and think about 
how we can get around piecemeal approaches to one program or 
another. At the end of the day, are we really supporting 
parents in this country? I would suggest we are not. Families 
have changed. Today, women participate in the workforce in 
record numbers. In fact, in December the number of women in the 
workplace exceeded men for only the second time in our history. 
But the child care system has not kept up. Layering on programs 
and funding streams has resulted in a maze of programs that 
both parents and providers have difficulty navigating. To meet 
the growing needs of America's workers and our children, we 
need to think about what works and when.
    So how do we make reform a reality? I recommend six 
principles that I believe everybody can agree to. First, 
identify what parents want and need and take them seriously. 
Any change must start with parents and what they need. Broadly 
speaking, the government has a role in holding Federally funded 
child care programs accountable to parents and tax payers while 
providing enough flexibility to parents to make their own 
decisions about what is best for their children. At the same 
time, parents deserve to know that their children are in safe 
healthy environments that meet their developmental needs.
    Second, provide flexibility with accountability and focus 
limited Federal resources on those most in need. Child care is 
not a luxury but a need of everyday Americans. Congress should 
consider the responsibilities at all levels of government, 
Federal, state, and local, in funding child care and prioritize 
families and communities with the greatest need, especially 
families with low incomes, those raising infants and toddlers, 
living in rural areas or working nontraditional hours.
    Third, encourage greater participation from state and local 
governments and business and the philanthropic community. 
States generally have a wide latitude in the way they organize 
and manage and fund child care programs. Better program 
alignment at the state level is important, not only because it 
promotes the efficient use of public funds, but it also impacts 
families' abilities to access the care they need. Locally, 
communities are coming together to support child care and 
should be seen by both sides of the aisle as success stories. 
For example, companies such as My Village are working to 
improve the supply of in-home child care in rural and 
underserved areas. The shared services model, like the one 
Early Learning Ventures provides, allows small providers to 
come together and deliver services more efficiently. In 
Missoula, Montana, public and private partners have agreed to 
renovate a vacant school to serve more than 200 infants and 
toddlers, something the community needs tremendously.
    Incentivizing communities to tackle these issues, 
especially facility needs, should be a priority for our child 
care system.
    Fourth, learn from what works in existing programs. There 
are lessons to be learned from what is already working. The 
Preschool Development Grants and the Early Head Start-Child 
Care Partnerships provide many great examples of how to involve 
all sectors in our country, both public and private, in 
reforming child care. The military child care program also has 
30 years of providing quality care for military families and we 
should learn lessons from them.
    Chairman Sablan. I hate to do this, but it is my 
unfortunate duty to tell you that you have exceeded your 5 
minutes. Please, another sentence and close it out.
    Ms. Smith. Okay. The final two things I would say is that 
we need to support our workforce, which has already been said, 
and then we really need to get serious about looking how we put 
our funding streams together to create one well-rounded system 
of early care and education in this country.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Smith follows:]
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    
       

    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Ms. Smith.
    And I now recognize Ms. Gonzalez, who has probably got a 
great story to tell.

    TESTIMONY OF ANGELICA MARIA GONZALEZ, PARENT/ LAW CLERK 
                    MOMSRISING/ LANE POWELL

    Ms. Gonzalez. Good morning Chairman Sablan, Ranking Member 
Allen, and members of the subcommittee.
    My name is Angelica Maria Gonzalez. Thank you for the 
opportunity to testify today. I am a single mom, a recent law 
school graduate, a Seattle, Washington resident, and a proud 
member of MomsRising, and a law clerk for Lane Powell.
    My children are 14, 8, and 4. As a single mother, who is 
the sole provider for my family with no extended family, 
finding quality, affordable, reliable child care falls to me. 
But throughout my 14 years of parenting, that has never been 
easy and often impossible. I have struggled to find and 
maintain child care at every turn.
    My story is not unique. It reflects a struggle of many of 
the American people. And the child care crisis that is 
happening right now has had a profoundly harmful impact on my 
family. I had my first child at 17 and needed child care so I 
could graduate high school and the community college. But no 
provider would accept an infant. I had no money to pay for the 
wildly expensive care. In community college, the wait list was 
a year and a half to get a spot on the campus. In the end I 
relied on intermittent unlicensed care while I got my degree. 
It was a huge source of stress as it continued to be an issue 
while I went on to obtain my BA.
    I struggled with the issue again when I had a career I 
loved, the care I needed, and a stable paying job. Why? Because 
I received an unexpected $200 child support payment it caused 
me to lose my child care subsidy. Overnight, I went from paying 
$15 month to about $800 a month. That $200 payment was just a 
one-time payment and wouldn't cover the cost of child care. 
They told me that I had to wait 3 months with no child support 
in order to reapply for a subsidy. That meant instead of paying 
$15 a month I had to pay $800 every month for 3 months. I got a 
second job to pay for child care so I could keep the first job, 
but it was unsustainable. Like many desperate families, I was 
forced to rely on unregulated care. The woman who watched my 
children was watching many more children than one person can 
handle. My three-year-old daughter nearly got hit by a car in 
her care and I pulled them out.
    The lack of access to child care led to a loss in 
employment and created instability in our lives. I searched for 
higher paying work so that I could afford licensed care. To 
attend interviews, I needed child care, but without a job I 
couldn't afford it. Finally, I was offered a well-paying job 
that would have changed our situation, but to take it I would 
need care for my infant son. I contacted every licensed center 
in three counties, not a single provider had a spot. I was 
forced to turn down the job. Then we lost our housing.
    Living in a shelter with three children, I applied and was 
accepted to law school. Again, child care was an issue. To 
qualify for a subsidy, I had to work full-time and attend 
school full-time--law school.
    So, I worked to have child care, often getting three hours 
of sleep. My last year of law school I had issues accessing and 
paying for law school and child care, which meant I would have 
had to drop out. Luckily for me, people in my community 
gathered around and made sure that did not happen.
    I have since graduated and now, finally, I am making higher 
wages than ever before. But, unbelievably, with student loans, 
child care costs being at an all-time high, high housing costs, 
and more, I still struggle, like so many of our families. I 
work weekends and evenings, leaving work around 3:00 p.m. to 
pick up my kids, take them to another babysitter, and drive 
back to work because of the inaccessibility to nonstandard 
hours.
    Fourteen years of experience, and nothing has changed. This 
is not the 1930s, staying at home is often not an option, even 
for two-parent households. I need to have the ability to 
provide our most basic needs. And how can we do that as an 
economy and survive and thrive when parents can't work?
    This isn't an individual problem that needs individual 
solutions. I have worked hard to have a career and 
independence. If I had access to quality and affordable child 
care from the start, my career and kids' lives would have 
looked very different. This same is true for so many families.
    Remember my story and support bold solutions. Now is the 
time.
    Thank you.
    [The statement of Ms. Gonzalez follows:]
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    
   

    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Gonzalez. Thank you, 
everyone. Under Committee Rule 8(a), we will now question the 
witnesses under the 5-minute rule. As the chair I will start 
and will be followed by the Ranking Member. We will then 
alternate between parties.
    So, I now recognize myself for 5 minutes.
    Let me start with Dr. Morrissey. A recent article from The 
Atlantic, that I would like to introduce into the record 
without objection, suggests that child care quality around the 
country varies widely. So, what does quality child care look 
like? How would a parent go into a child care setting and 
identify whether it is high-quality?
    Ms. Morrissey. Sure. Child care quality is really about the 
relationship between a child and the adults caring for that 
child. And so, parents would want to look for adult engagement, 
they would want to look for warmth and responsiveness to a 
child who is having a tough day. They could also look for 
developmentally appropriate toys and curricula, but it is 
really--the key ingredient to quality is that caregiver-child 
relationship. Parents, as proxies, could look for licensure. It 
doesn't guarantee quality, but it means that the program is 
adhering to health and safety standards, which is incredibly 
important.
    Beyond that, what I did and what I would recommend, is 
asking about worker wages and compensation, because we know 
that higher paid workers provide higher quality care. Those 
with sick time, paid vacation, they are able to stay in their 
positions and we know that consistent, stable care is very 
important.
    Chairman Sablan. Happy care givers, happy children I would 
suppose.
    So, what effects does the lack of high-quality child care 
have for children, communities, and our country?
    Ms. Morrissey. It is a lost opportunity on multiple levels. 
But when children are in settings that aren't safe, that is 
obviously problematic. But when they are in settings without 
these warm responsive caregivers--maybe a caregiver has too 
many children in her or his care, there is not developmentally 
enriching experiences, the interactions--language rich 
environments are very important--that child--we know that the 
brain development in the first 3 years in particular is very, 
very important, and children's brain develops from the 
experiences in his or her environment. And enriching experience 
is key. And so, without that, there is harm. That child does 
not live up to his or her potential in terms of developing 
language and cognitive skills. And we know that disparities by 
income, race, and ethnicity emerge very, very early.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. I will have questions submitted 
for the record and ask that some of you who I don't ask your 
questions to, or other members, we would like to please receive 
a response to those questions.
    Thank you, Dr. Morrissey.
    Ms. Gonzalez, thank you so much for sharing your experience 
with us. There must have been moments where it would have been 
great to be a fly on the wall in your home.
    I find it deeply frustrating that we are asking parents 
like you to persevere through so much and for so long, all 
because policy makers have not yet solved the child care access 
and affordability problems that continue to hold so many 
parents back.
    Well, I have limited time and I have other questions, so 
can you please tell us what, if anything, you have seen change 
in terms of the availability and quality of child care between 
when you had your oldest child, who is 14, to when you had your 
youngest?
    Ms. Gonzalez. Honestly, I have not seen anything change. 
And that is very disappointing. I have gone back to the 
community colleges and let me tell you what I have seen, I see 
more mothers going to school, trying to seek an education, and 
I see the gap growing, the issue growing.
    Chairman Sablan. So how does that compare to what you 
recall the challenges your mother faced finding reliable care 
when you were a child?
    Ms. Gonzalez. Yeah, my mom faced the same thing and she 
also had to rely on unregulated unlicensed care. And so, like 
some of the witnesses today were testifying is that we have a 
bunch of gaps. And even the subsidy only cover very few 
individuals. And it is just growing. Parents are in the 
workforce. Two parent households can't make it only one parent 
working. Two parents have to work nowadays with the costs.
    Chairman Sablan. Yeah, thank you. My time is up. I will 
submit--like I said, I will have questions for some of you, so 
please respond to those in writing.
    I now recognize the ranking member for the purpose of 
questioning the witnesses. Mr. Allen, please.
    Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, thank all of you 
for being here.
    And, you know, I will tell you, I had four kids and I took 
my wife and I both, and she didn't work, so I--well, I say she 
didn't work, she worked. She taught piano in the home, which 
worked out great, and directed choirs at church. But still I 
don't know how in the world you are doing what you are doing. I 
just don't know how you do it.
    But, anyway, Ms. Smith, thank you for being here today. And 
I just want to ask about the Preschool Development Grants. We 
significantly reformed that program when we passed Every 
Student Succeeds Act to help states assess their early 
childhood care needs. We are a few years into this now and I am 
hoping you can give me an idea on how that reformed program is 
working, what have states learned, and whether we have seen any 
changes in addressing the child care needs in the states as a 
result of these grants and this investment.
    Ms. Smith. I think this is one of the most important 
investments that Congress has made recently in early childhood. 
It has really spurred the states on to look objectively at what 
is going on in their states. All of the reports to date suggest 
that states have a much better understanding of the need in 
their states, in their communities. And they are out talking to 
parents a lot more. I think in most states I have heard they 
have had many initiatives to really begin the conversation of 
what parents really want and need.
    So, I think that the Preschool Development Grants have done 
amazing things to help states look at their systems and bring 
these funding streams together in a meaningful way.
    Mr. Allen. And you discussed one pillar of reform needs to 
be to identify parent needs and preferences, to take them 
seriously. What do you mean when you add ``and take them 
seriously''? In other words, why is it important to listen to 
the parents and to their needs and that feedback to go to the 
funding sources to say, hey, we need to fix this?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I think that the first thing that I would 
say is that, you know, parents know their children best. And 
they know what kind of setting their children should be in. And 
when I said in my testimony that what works well for home and 
when, I think younger children sometimes are better off in, for 
example, the setting described by Miss Harvey, in a home-based 
setting where it is smaller in its group size. And as children 
get older, they tend to want more--the parents want more 
socialization. I think it is important that we think about what 
parents know about their children and listen to them and design 
a system that meets those needs, not just the needs that are 
perceived out there by others, you know, when they look down 
and think about whether it is center based or home based. I 
think there is a big emphasis in this country on center-based 
care to the detriment of family child care these days. And we 
are losing family child care providers. That is an important 
component and it is one that parents--
    Mr. Allen. Is that because of regulations?
    Ms. Smith. Some of it is--I don't think it is regulations, 
I think it is really a couple of things going on out there that 
older people are aging out of our system and it is not an 
attractive thing for younger people.
    Mr. Allen. Gotcha.
    Ms. Smith. I do think that getting back to the issue of 
cost, how many children can you take care of reasonably and 
still make any money. And I think that was to Ms. Harvey's 
points that she was making.
    So, I think we really need to look at the system and how we 
support all of the components. There is a place for a number of 
options for parents. And if we don't start listening to them, I 
think we are headed down the wrong path.
    Mr. Allen. Mm-hmm. You made reference that families should 
spend no more than 7 percent of their total income on child 
care. Where do you get those numbers and how did you--how 
accurate is that?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I don't think that was in my testimony, so 
I--
    Mr. Allen. Oh, okay.
    Ms. Smith. Seven percent I do think is being misinterpreted 
in this country.
    Mr. Allen. Yeah.
    Ms. Smith. Seven percent, when the child care regulations 
were written, the seven percent was set at the benchmark for 
the child care for states in setting their co-pays for the 
child care subsidy program. And I think over time it has grown 
into seeming to be just a guidance on how much parents should 
pay. So, it really was not intended to be that. I think if we 
are going to look at what parents can afford to pay; we need to 
dig deeper into some of these issues of both cost and 
affordability. And I don't think it is as simple as a flat 
percentage.
    Mr. Allen. Okay. Thank you. And I am out of time and I 
yield back.
    Thank you very much.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you very much, Mr. Allen.
    And I now recognize Ms. Schrier, the distinguished lady 
from Washington State, for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Schrier. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Ms. Gonzalez, first of all, welcome. Thank you to all of 
our witnesses. Your story was so incredibly impactful, and I 
think will stay with all of us as we consider child care going 
forward.
    I want to congratulate you on getting your associates, your 
BA, your JD, and then I just also wanted to just do a shout out 
for Green River College. That happens to be in my district. I 
know you were on a very long wait list to get child care on 
campus. I am glad that it did at least provide some of the 
care. And I think you drive home why I partnered with 
Representative Clark to continue to advocate for increases to 
CCAMPUS, which funds child care on campus. So, thank you.
    I wanted to just ask you first, the 7 percent number which 
is batted around. We have been talking about that, presidential 
candidates have been talking about that. What difference would 
it have made in your life if your child care costs, provided 
you could find a place--I know those were also struggles--if 
your costs were capped at 7 percent of your income?
    Ms. Gonzalez. It would have made child care more 
affordable. But right now, what is going on in America is child 
care is more expensive than rent, it is more expensive than 
college education. And people are struggling to even afford 
college, so how can we afford child care?
    Ms. Schrier. I also have a question--maybe Ms. Smith, this 
would be a good one for you--we are trying to balance how much 
the government spends for child care and also what private 
businesses could do. Like Starbucks, for example, in Washington 
State provides some child care. How do you strike the right 
balance and incentivize businesses to invest in child care for 
their workers?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I think that depends on the size of the 
business. One of the things that we are coming to understand, 
bigger business can do more than small and medium-sized 
businesses. And I think we can't paint businesses with the same 
brush as we try to do families. I think we need different 
incentives for smaller and medium businesses than larger. In 
the case of small and medium-sized businesses, in the 
conversations that we have been having with them, there are 
things like co-ops that they can come together and create a 
child care program that meets several businesses' needs. We 
have heard that. There are things that we can learn from 
businesses. And that is why I say in my testimony that we do 
need to engage businesses, but in a meaningful conversation 
about how to meet need.
    Ms. Schrier. Speaking of a co-op--I am going a little off 
script here--when my child was young, we did a co-op preschool. 
I just thought it was a nice way for parents to be involved and 
children to be involved. It was not full day; it was just part 
of the day. So, I did it on my day off from work. But I wonder, 
as you talk about a co-op with businesses, if anybody has 
thought about a possible situation where you could have women--
because it mostly affects women--working a four day week and 
the fifth day is spent at the, you know, kind of co-op child 
care center. They spend the whole day there; their child gets a 
break on the cost. And if the parent's kind of rotate, you get 
consistent people in the day care system. They can get trained 
on the job, like an apprenticeship program. Has anybody kind of 
imagined a system like that?
    Ms. Smith. I don't think that I have heard of that. 
Although, just to the point, I was visiting the Flathead Indian 
Reservation, where I am from actually, a few weeks ago and the 
Tribe has actually gone to exactly what you describe, 4 10 hour 
days with the child care program that I visited being open on 
the fifth day. And there was more parent participation in that 
program. So, it is kind of an interesting theory, but I don't 
know of anything on a grand scale anywhere that is being looked 
at.
    Ms. Schrier. And then I had another question. Just from any 
of you, biggest misconceptions around the child care crisis in 
this country that we should be addressing from Congress?
    Ms. Harvey. I think what is important that I want to 
emphasize here as an in-home child care provider is the fact 
that many of our staff workers they themselves are in poverty. 
And that just really does not seem like a fair system. We are 
actually keeping America working, but yet ourselves we fall 
short and are struggling to pay our own bills.
    So, I would like to leave Congress with that, that we must 
pull together collectively and find a solution to solve that.
    Ms. Schrier. Let me ask you another question about that. 
More and more early childhood education systems--and I am 
almost out of time--are requiring a BA, for example, in early 
childhood education when we just heard that sometimes what you 
really need is a loving play-based place to be. It is 
unreasonable and then does it put upward price pressure?
    Ms. Harvey. Yes, it does, absolutely. I was fortunate that 
my union provided an 18-month co-op where 30 child care 
providers in Alameda County, we all pulled together and we were 
able to take classes. And this was, like I said, under the 
umbrella of our union. And we were taught by college 
professors. This just happened several months ago, and we ended 
up with the child care permit that was really, you know--
    Chairman Sablan. I hate to do this, but her time is up 
and--
    Ms. Schrier. I apologize for that.
    Chairman Sablan. I need to be fair to everyone.
    Ms. Harvey, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Schrier.
    Mr. Keller, you are recognized for 5 minutes, sir.
    Mr. Keller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to thank 
the panel for being here today to discuss our children and 
early childhood care and supporting the parents and the entire 
family, and how it affects our economy.
    Ms. Smith, a couple of things I guess I would just like to 
ask. In your testimony you referenced the Federal Government 
and how we cannot dictate how a family should choose to care 
for their children. What makes you say that? Are there 
proposals that have been offered that could lead to this? And 
if so, what are some of the important factors we should avoid? 
And what should we consider to avoid limiting parents, you 
know, in their options they have for their kids?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I think that as I said earlier, I think 
that parents know their children best and that all children 
don't fit in any one particular setting. And I go back to my 
own experience. When my children were young, I was running a 
child care center at the time for the Air Force and my own 
child was in a family child care home because I knew my child 
and she fit better in--her temperament fit better in that 
family child care home.
    So I think that what I am concerned about--and I think in 
part to answer the question that was asked just now, what is 
the biggest misconception about our child care system right 
now, is that it is pretty much built around a 9:00 to 5:00 
schedule in this country and most of our workforce doesn't work 
that way anymore. So, I think what we have got to rethink is 
giving parents the flexibility to have multiple options that 
meet their work schedules and that do not assume that 
everything has to be in a child care center.
    And I think a lot of our policies, while they are not 
directly--a lot of the proposals are not directly saying child 
care centers, they lean heavily towards that type of a setting. 
And I would suggest that we need to keep our options open and 
we need to especially look at home-based care. Rural America, 
you know, in certain parts of this country, it is the only 
option.
    Mr. Keller. Yeah, I am familiar with that. Personal 
experience, when my children were young, my wife and I both 
worked and, you know, we started at 6:00 o'clock in the morning 
so we had to make sure options were available. And I think it 
is very important to make sure that families--as each child is 
individual. You know, you can have two children raised in the 
same house and, you know, people will say well we raised them 
in the same house, raised them in the same way, but they are 
not the same. Everybody is an individual and I think--so you 
think that more options allowing for an individual tailor plan 
for a family because all families are not the same, would be 
our best option?
    Ms. Smith. I do. I absolutely do.
    The other thing I think that, you know, we need to think 
about in a system--if we re-imagine a system, that we have a 
lot of programs that run part day, part year in our country 
right now and they don't meet the needs of working families. 
And so, you know, parents who want to put their child in say a 
state pre-K program don't have the option if they don't have 
transportation while they are working.
    And so, I think we need to think seriously about how we 
build a system that looks at our families and goes--again, 
going back to what parents in this country need right now.
    Mr. Keller. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that.
    And I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. The gentleman yields back. Thank you.
    I now recognize Ms. Hayes for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Hayes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
    Ms. Gonzales, we all heard your testimony. I want you to 
know that your story is my story. And the only difference is 
that I had my grandmother, who was a saving grace. But 
everything that you described has been my experience. And, 
unfortunately, the research shows that unlicensed care is often 
the only affordable care or available option for many low-
income families.
    I have to ask you, what was the longest waiting list that 
you were on while you waited for child care?
    Ms. Gonzalez. In my whole 14 years of child care 
experience, the longest waiting list was 2 1/2 years.
    Ms. Hayes. That is what I anticipated you would say. And 
generally, 2 1/2 years later is 2 1/2 years too late.
    My staff conducted a survey last year and the longest wait 
list for child care in my district is 3 years, so about the 
same. Forty-four percent of the people in my state live in 
child care deserts and communities that lacked any child care 
providers, and in child care deserts or communities that lacked 
any providers or providers with openings. While these deserts 
exist all across my district, what we found was that 
communities of color and low-income communities were the spots 
where it was the most difficult to find child care. And the 
average cost of care for a family with two children was about 
$27,000 a year.
    Dr. Morrissey, I would like to turn my attention to you. As 
an educator, I am interested in discussing how these child care 
deserts, high costs, and lack of availability can further 
entrench the achievement gaps, many of which we heard Ms. 
Harvey talk about. Does your research show about the emergence 
of racial and income achievement gaps? And at which stage do 
these gaps generally happen?
    Ms. Morrissey. We certainly know that the achievement gap 
emerges early, well before kindergarten. And there is some 
research showing that there are differences in children's 
cognitive scores as early as 9 months, by their family income 
and by their parents' educational attainment. So, kindergarten 
is much too late I think for--it is not too late, I shouldn't 
say that--in terms of intervening, but we think more effective 
solutions would be to promote children's development much 
early.
    We know that low-income children are much less likely to 
attend preschool, we know that higher income families are 
spending more and more money very early in their child's lives. 
They are choosing to enroll children in center-based care at 
earlier and younger ages, whereas low-income families don't 
have that choice, often the options aren't there. We know there 
are differences in preschool participation across rural and 
urban communities as well. And so, the lack of availability 
kind of cascade and lead to gaps in achievement which are 
present at kindergarten and are very hard to narrow at that 
point, certainly not impossible, but it is quite hard.
    Ms. Hayes. This is completely not research based, but my 
own personal experiences. I was a high school teacher for 14 
years and you could tell which students, even at the high 
school level, were enrolled in early childhood education 
programs. Whether it was their reading skills, their language 
skills, their social skills, you could always tell which 
children had access to early childhood education, even 
sometimes 14 or 15 years later.
    Do you think that our current childcare system, in which 
access to quality care is largely predicated on a parent's 
income, lends itself to narrowing or closing the achievement 
gap?
    Ms. Morrissey. I think our current system, which we rely on 
parents to pay their own way, exacerbates inequality and the 
achievement gap. We have parents who can afford it, investing 
in their young children's education, and parents who can't, 
simply not having that option.
    Ms. Hayes. Thank you. I just want to close by noting that 
under the Child Care for Working Families Act, 89,000 children 
in my district will be eligible for child care assistance, and 
the typical family in Connecticut's fifth district would pay 
about $44 a week for child care. That assistance, that 
difference is life changing.
    Ms. Gonzalez, I don't know if this is your story, but I was 
the first in my family to graduate from college. And now, in 
the space of 7 years, I am a second-generation college educated 
family, because I passed that on to my daughter. So, when we 
are talking about closing these gaps, if we have the ability to 
show our children at a very young age that this is possible and 
what it looks like, it reduces the likelihood that our children 
will experience those same things.
    Ms. Gonzalez. I agree.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you.
    Ms. Hayes. Mr. Chair, I yield back.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Ms. Hayes.
    I would now like to recognize Dr. Shalala for 5 minutes 
please.
    Ms. Shalala. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Allen, I don't disagree with you about the 
fragmentation of the child care system.
    Mr. Chairman, I would like to submit for the record a 
report. ``It is About Time: Parents Who Work Nonstandard Hours 
Face Child Care Challenges''. And also ``The Grand Plan'' to 
hear from grandparents who provide child care.
    In my district, which is--
    Chairman Sablan. Without objection.
    Ms. Shalala. Thank you.
    In my district, which is over 70 percent Hispanic, 
grandparents play a significant role in providing child care, 
or another family member. And, therefore, I have always, for 
years, been interested in better support services for family 
child care.
    But Ms. Henry made a very important point, and that is the 
people that work in family child care are getting minimum wage 
for the most part. And in my district, a lot of the family 
child care people have complained to me that too much of the 
money goes to administrative costs in sending them the money as 
opposed--and even when there are increases, those workers don't 
get those increases.
    So listening to Mr. Allen, I have a much more fundamental 
question to ask each of you, and that is we spent decades--and 
I was responsible for the early Head Start program, as Ms. 
Smith knows--we spent decades filling in the gaps. And, in 
fact, the military taught us something very important, and that 
is they didn't fill in the gaps. They fundamentally rethought 
their child care system and invested whatever money was 
necessary, facilities, the quality of the workers. My long-term 
interest is in quality child care. I am very flexible about 
where we provide it because I do think that parents, they work 
different hours but more importantly, they live in different 
places, they have different ethnic backgrounds.
    Should we continue to fill in the gaps or should we rethink 
the entire system given the resources that we are now spending 
on child care?
    Let me start with Dr. Morrissey.
    Ms. Morrissey. Sure. I--
    Ms. Shalala. And by the way, you should speak to the 
chairman of the committee, Mr. Scott, who is sitting over here, 
because both he and the chairman of this committee have an 
opportunity to answer your question--my question for you.
    Ms. Morrissey. I think we are at a moment where families 
are struggling so much to pay for child care. And they have for 
decades. But we have--we can think more about bold solutions, 
about investing more. Our programs right now, Head Start and 
CCDBG being the largest ones, are the most funded and still 
reach only fractions of people eligible. And CCDBG subsidies do 
provide choice for parents if parents want to use home-based 
care. Particularly for infants and toddlers many families do 
choose that, and others choose center and preschool.
    Ms. Shalala. But it has had a mixed record in terms of 
quality.
    Ms. Morrissey. Right.
    Ms. Shalala. Depending on what state you are in.
    Ms. Morrissey. So, I think it has two problems. One, it 
doesn't serve enough families and, second, the reimbursement 
rates are too low to provide quality. Child care providers are 
operating on a shoe string budget and they simply can't with 
the reimbursement rates pay staff adequately. They can't buy 
clothes and food and supplies.
    Ms. Shalala. Ms. Harvey?
    Ms. Harvey. Yes, to answer your question, yes, we need to 
revamp the system. It is a crisis. What we are currently doing 
clearly is not working. And so, as an in-home child care 
provider, as I stated in my testimony, I am only required to 
have one additional assistant, I have four. Now, I have four 
because I want my quality to be a high-quality child care, 
meaning that children get the appropriate time and opportunity 
to have a good adult-child interaction every day so that we can 
meet all the needs that the children bring to us.
    Ms. Shalala. Thank you. Dr. Smith?
    Ms. Smith. I do think it is time to rethink the system. And 
I want to go back and just quickly say that one of the reasons 
that we were successful in the military was is that we decided 
early on we had to fix it all, that putting a band aid on one 
piece of it was not going to get us anywhere. And I think right 
now in this country that is where we are. Are we going to band 
aid this again or are we going to take this on and figure out 
how to do this system in a way that makes sense to parents?
    Ms. Shalala. To every parent.
    Ms. Smith. Every parent, yes. I--
    Ms. Shalala. Thank you.
    Miss Gonzalez?
    Ms. Gonzalez. Yes, I agree, we need bold solutions and to 
rethink the system, not just filling in gaps.
    Ms. Shalala. Thank you.
    My point, Mr. Chairman, for my last 4 seconds, is we have 
talked about who gets the child care, whether they should have 
flexibility, but we should not separate the finance issue from 
the quality issue.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes.
    Ms. Shalala. That in the process of rethinking, what all of 
our people who have testified--have talked about quality as 
well.
    Chairman Sablan. Right. And in preparing for this hearing 
also I mean I just was--I have my own thoughts, profound 
thoughts about how important this matter is. I mean there are 
other equally important matters before the committee, but this 
in itself is one of the best investments we could do for our 
people, for our future actually and our economy. And that is 
why I mention--at this point I would like to recognize the 
ranking member of the full committee, Dr. Foxx, for 5 minutes.
    Mrs. Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Sablan. I thank the witnesses for 
being here today.
    Ms. Smith, you have a lot of experience in the child care 
field and we are grateful you are here. And you have been 
talking about bold reform in the system. When I think about 
bold reforms I think about looking at all the evidence, 
determining what is still needed versus what is no longer 
needed, and as you all have just been saying, rebuilding a new 
system that provides solutions to the current problems that 
exist.
    Within the child care field we must first understand what 
role the Federal Government plays in the space now, how the 
states have stepped up to do more, and the market of options 
available to help us rebuild the system. Can we do all that if 
we simply take each program in isolation rather than looking at 
the Federal involvement in early childhood care in total?
    Ms. Smith. Excuse me, I think the answer to that is 
absolutely not. I don't think that we can get anywhere with 
just taking one program and looking at it. I think we have 
spent a lot of time in this country layering programs one on 
another. Sometimes they continue on beyond their usefulness in 
this country. And I think it is really time to think seriously 
about the big ones. I think Dr. Morrissey said something about 
child care and Head Start being the big funding streams. I 
would say that TANF--there are a lot of TANF dollars going into 
child care, there is CACFP, the Child and Adult Care Food 
Program, dollars going in. There are a number of programs that 
if we were to look at these and be more efficient, we could 
build a system that would work for our families in a much 
better way.
    Mrs. Foxx. Thank you.
    And I know this was discussed a little, Ms. Smith, but I 
would like to ask more about business involvement. You 
discussed the need for business and philanthropic involvement. 
So, what more can or should the business community be doing? 
How can state, local, and even Federal Government help make it 
easier for the business community to get involved and help 
provide or support the high-quality child care parents are 
looking for?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I do think that the number one thing we 
need to do is start talking to business, like we need to talk 
to parents; what is it that businesses need and want. We have 
been going out and doing business roundtables around the 
country. And I think, as I said earlier, the needs of small and 
medium-sized businesses are different than large ones.
    The other piece that I would suggest is a real issue is 
that we too frequently go to them and ask them to do it. And 
child care is not most companies' line of work. So how do we 
bring businesses together to support child care and get us 
where we need to go, and give them incentives to do more, but 
not ask them to do it. Because I think that is a struggle for a 
lot of businesses, especially small ones.
    Mrs. Foxx. Well, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about 
the GAO report that highlights significant fraud risk in the 
Head Start program. I have asked Chairman Scott to hold a 
hearing on those findings, but until that happens I am going to 
use this opportunity to discuss those concerns.
    A large part of the potential fraud noted by GAO was due to 
a lack of proper quality control measures, such as better 
monitoring and fraud risk assessment. In the undercover test it 
was a worker who doctored an application to exclude income, and 
in another two cases the Head Start staffer purposely ignored 
eligibility documentation of an applicant.
    I think this is just another example of why we need to take 
a comprehensive look at how we are using hard working taxpayer 
funds to support the programs.
    My colleagues tend to dig in to protect each program, but 
this report and this hearing give us a chance to highlight the 
need for comprehensive reform that includes careful attention 
to prevent fraud, to avoid programs that encourage fraud, and 
to support programs that help American families go to work 
knowing their children are in the best care environment for 
them.
    With that I ask to submit the GAO report ``Head Start: 
Action Needed to Enhance Program Oversight and Mitigate 
Significant Fraud and Improper Payment Risk'' into the hearing 
record. I also would like to submit another GAO report that 
looks at support for child care, ``Child Care and Early 
Education: Most States Offer Preschool Programs and Rely on 
Multiple Funding Sources'', Mr. Chairman.
    I will make one more quick comment about the last comment 
you made, Ms. Smith. What we are seeing in the field of 
education I think is what we are going to see in the field of 
child care too. Finally, business and industry is beginning to 
understand it has a vested interest in what happens in 
education. And if they don't step up to help design what is 
going on in education, they are going to continue to get crappy 
results from the education system. If they don't do the same 
thing with child care, they will see that it is affecting them 
and their bottom line. So, it is in their vested interest to do 
something about it.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Mrs.Foxx.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Foxx.
    I would like to now recognize the chairman of the full 
committee, Mr. Scott, for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Scott. Thank you.
    Ms. Smith, in December of 2017 you authored a brief 
highlighting the government's under investment in children, and 
your conclusion was that while states and localities are 
directing substantial resources to education, and while the 
Federal Government makes important contributions to healthcare 
and nutrition assistance to low-income families, a large 
resource gap remains, particularly with respect to child care 
and early learning for young children. Is that still the case? 
And, if so, exactly what resource gaps do we need to fill?
    Ms. Smith. I am blanking on the article that you are 
referring to, but I would say that yes, it does. I think 
everyone here on this panel has suggested that early childhood 
is under-resourced. But I think before we move forward in terms 
of resourcing these programs, we need to rethink how they are 
being delivered right now. And is the money that we are putting 
into programs enough and aligned well enough that we are 
getting the most bang for the buck. Whether it is Federal, 
state, or local, I think we have got to take a look at these 
things. When we have programs, part day programs, full day 
programs, programs here and there, the efficiency is just not 
there.
    And I think to be, you know, totally honest, before we 
would move forward, we need to figure this out about what are 
we getting for our current investments.
    Mr. Scott. Are you suggesting more uniformity on how the 
services are provided? That is, everybody ought to get access 
to full-time care and not the kind of hodgepodge of some half 
day and some education, some not education?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I think that for some half day care works. 
I mean there are families who use, for example, state part day 
pre-K programs and work their schedules around that. But for 
the bulk of American families, that does not work. And so, I 
think as we think forward, that is why I keep saying we need to 
think about what works for whom and when, because some families 
can make part day programs work, some families need 24-hour 
care in this country. And I think before we move too far 
forward, we need to recognize the needs as they exist in the 
current workforce and to support our businesses.
    Mr. Scott. For those that need full day, 8 hour or so care, 
is it possible to provide that so that the parents can pay the 
fee--is it reasonable to expect parents to be able to afford 
that kind of service?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I think you have heard today that it 
depends. And I think, as I said in my testimony, we need to 
start with the families who need it the most and make sure that 
they have access and work our way up on the system. I think 
that, you know, there are families that can afford it, there 
are a lot of families who can't. And I would suggest that most 
of the working parents in this country are going to need some 
type of support.
    Mr. Scott. What is the normal ratio between staff and 
children in these programs, Ms. Smith?
    Ms. Smith. Depends on the age of the child, but for infants 
and toddlers in this country, it is generally one to four, one 
adult for every four children. That is extremely labor 
intensive and expensive to produce, I am sure, as Ms. Harvey 
can attest to better than I can. So, I think the ratios change 
as the children get older and it is definitely easier to care 
for.
    Mr. Scott. And at one to four, that would mean each parent 
would have to cover about 25 percent of the cost. And so, if 
the parent is median income and you expect to pay staff median 
income, you would be talking not 7 percent but 25 percent of 
the income just to cover the cost of the staff expense.
    What level of salary should day care workers be getting? 
Should it be half or a third of median wage, median wage? Where 
should we be aiming to get quality services? Anybody want to 
answer? Dr. Morrissey?
    Ms. Morrissey. I think child care workers should be paid 
commensurate with their educational attainment and their skills 
and experience. And we know that is certainly not the case, 
that kindergarten and K through 12 educators are paid much more 
relative to child care providers, yet they are doing the same 
work in educating our youngest, most impressionable children.
    Mr. Scott. So, I think we can conclude that this thing 
won't work without significant Federal--some kind of subsidies. 
And that is what we have to figure out how to--as Ms. Smith has 
suggested--how to get the best bang for our buck. But we are 
not going to be able to do this without significant Federal 
support.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Chairman Sablan. The gentleman's time is expired.
    Now I would like to recognize the gentleman from Wisconsin, 
Mr. Grothman, for 5 minutes please.
    Mr. Grothman. This question is for Ms. Smith. According to 
a 2019 report from Child Care Aware of America, Winnebago 
County, which is largely located in my district, is one of the 
least affordable counties in Wisconsin for center based infant 
child care for children under the age of 4. So unaffordable 
that for a two parent household they would have to spend 14 
percent of their income for just 1 child. And for a single 
parent it would be even more burdensome.
    Why is the cost of infant child care so high? Is there 
anything we can do to address the cost?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I think back to the issue of ratios that 
we were just talking about, that is the cost driver in infant 
care. So, if you have a ratio of one to four children, that is 
going to be more expensive than children older with a ratio of 
say one to ten or twelve. I think that is where we need to 
focus our attention. Infant and toddler care in this country is 
a crisis for almost every American family. And so, it gets back 
to where do we put our resources, especially when they are 
scarce. And I think we are going to have to think this thing 
through as we talk about a more systematic approach to this 
issue.
    Mr. Grothman. Okay. Is there a difference you see overall 
between rural and urban areas? If we want to generalize.
    Ms. Smith. Absolutely. And I do think that--I come from a 
rural area of Montana and I do understand the challenges in 
rural America. And I do think we need to, again, getting back 
to thinking about options for families, think about family 
child care and other options in small rural parts of our 
country.
    Mr. Grothman. Could you elaborate on family child care a 
little bit?
    Ms. Smith. I am sorry, what?
    Mr. Grothman. Elaborate on family child care.
    Ms. Smith. Family child care is essentially home-based 
care. It is in the care of a provider and the ratios are 
smaller, not smaller in terms of the numbers of children, but 
just group size is smaller in a home. For infants and toddlers, 
a lot of families prefer that. When we go out and talk to 
parents around the country, the first thing they are looking 
for--and I think both of these women on either side of me would 
say the same thing--they are looking for a home like 
environment for their children where they trust the provider 
and the provider is loving and cares for their children.
    Mr. Grothman. Is that a more reasonable cost?
    Ms. Smith. I don't know that it is a cost issue as much as 
it is an availability issue. And we have lost family child care 
providers across this country in significant numbers recently. 
Somewhat as we said earlier because people are aging out of 
family child care.
    Mr. Grothman. Wow. I am just making an assumption. Maybe I 
am wrong here. You can tell me if I am wrong. I would say if I 
am providing child care in my house I don't have to rent a 
brick and mortar place to provide the child care. So, one would 
assume that it might be easier, you could charge less for these 
not charge more if I am going to be offering child care out of 
my house? Is that true?
    Ms. Smith. Well, I think there are offsets because there 
are some things that are less expensive, and certainly brick 
and mortar is one of them. But I would also say that the length 
of the day in family child care homes is longer, that family 
child care providers generally--and I would defer to Ms. Harvey 
on this one--work 10 or 12 hours a day. So, I think that there 
are pros and cons when it comes to the cost issue.
    Mr. Grothman. Is there any reason why we can't do it? Is it 
regulatory? A problem in doing more home center child care?
    Ms. Smith. I don't--I have not heard that it is regulatory 
in terms of the loss. I think it is more the economy is hot 
right now and pretty much you can get a job making a lot more 
money at McDonalds than you can--
    Mr. Grothman. Yeah, when we say we want to bring back home-
based child care is there any reason why we can't do that?
    Ms. Smith. No. I think there isn't a reason. I think we 
just needed to focus on how do we support them, what do we 
offer them in terms of support systems, backup care for 
families, how do we support them in terms of their professional 
development. When they are working 12 hours a day, they cannot 
get out to get that. So, I think that there are a number of 
things that we can do. As I said, there is My Village out in 
Montana and Colorado that are working to support family child 
care providers in rural parts of our country and helping them 
with their business model, helping them be more efficient, et 
cetera.
    So, there are a lot of things that we can do if we think 
about how we focus on these options.
    Mr. Grothman. Thank you.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you. Thank you, everyone.
    At this time I would like to remind my colleagues that 
pursuant to committee practice, materials for submission for 
the hearing record must be submitted to the committee clerk 
within 14 days following the last day of the hearing, 
preferably in Microsoft Word format. The materials submitted 
must address the subject matter of the hearing and only a 
member of the committee or an invited witness may submit 
materials for inclusion in the hearing record. Documents are 
limited to 50 pages each. Documents longer than 50 pages will 
be incorporated into the record via an internet link that you 
must provide to the committee clerk within the required 
timeframe. But please recognize that years from now that link 
may no longer work.
    And now, without objection, I would like to enter into the 
record a letter from Child Care Aware of America in support the 
Child Care for Working Families Act as a comprehensive solution 
to the Nation's child care crisis, a report from the Center for 
American Progress showing that working families spend on 
average almost 10 percent of their income on child care, and a 
report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office showing 
that in fiscal year 2015, the last year for which data from the 
GAO are available, only one out of six Federally eligible 
children received a child care subsidy, a report from the 
Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University 
of California Berkeley showing that child care providers earn a 
median of $10.72 an hour and more than half of child care 
workers participate in Federal income support programs, a 
report from the Bipartisan Council for a Strong America showing 
that the child care crisis has a cost of $57 a year on the 
American economy--this must mean $57 billion a year on the 
American economy, and a brief written by today's witness, Ms. 
Smith, Linda Smith, showing that our country is under-investing 
in young children, particularly when it comes to child care and 
early learning. That is your brief, right, Ms. Smith?
    Ms. Smith. Yes, sir.
    Chairman Sablan. Okay. Again, I want to thank all of you, 
the witnesses, for your participation today. And what we have 
heard is very valuable. Members of the committee may have some 
additional questions for you, and we ask the witnesses to 
please respond to those questions in writing. The hearing 
record will be held open for 14 days in order to receive those 
responses.
    I remind my colleagues that pursuant to committee practice, 
witness questions for the hearing record must be submitted to 
the majority committee staff or committee clerk within 7 days 
and the questions, again, I repeat, must address the subject 
matter of the hearing.
    And I now recognize the distinguished ranking member for 
his closing statement.
    Mr. Allen. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I would like to 
thank each of the witnesses again for testifying today and 
sharing your invaluable perspectives and stories on this 
growing challenge we have in the workplace. All of us here 
agree that it is vital to address the problem in our child care 
system.
    First and foremost, we need high quality options for 
parents and families that meet their unique needs and support 
children's development in the critical years, those early years 
of their life. The problem is how do we pay for it. This not 
only strengthens families, but it offers the opportunity to 
strengthen our economy and to grow our workforce, which, you 
know, we have more jobs in this country than we have people 
looking for jobs, which is great, but we have got to figure out 
how to deal with these challenges.
    In order to make this a reality, we can't continue down the 
same path we are currently on in this system that is confusing 
and is nearly impossible to navigate for both parents and 
providers by simply spending more money to solve the problem. 
We need to take a fresh look is what I am hearing here today, 
top down--or bottom up solution, talking to our providers, 
talking to our parents and their needs. And we need to look at 
empowering state and local leaders who better know the needs of 
their communities and encouraging employers in local 
philanthropies who are looking to help and focus on what works 
for those most in need. For example, Ms. Gonzalez, I think you 
said that there were members of your community that stepped up 
and helped you. And, you know, that is the American way to do 
things. And their needs out there. And I think if people know 
those needs, they will respond to those needs. The American 
people for the most part are very generous people. And if they 
know there are needs there, particularly, Ms. Gonzalez, in your 
situation, certainly I would think the American people would 
respond.
    But I am glad that we have been able to continue this 
important conversation and to seek the solutions. And I want to 
thank you again and thank our chairman for holding this 
hearing. And hopefully this body can move in a direction that 
will be appropriate to deal with this, what I see as a bit of a 
crisis out there in the workplace.
    Thank you very much.
    Chairman Sablan. Thank you, Mr. Allen. And, again, thank 
you to our distinguished witnesses for being with us and 
sharing their thoughts with the committee.
    Today the committee certainly heard compelling testimony 
that our country's child care is in crisis. In preparing for 
this I went back and recalled some of my own growing years and 
I couldn't figure out how my mother was able to raise seven 
children.
    Mr. Allen. You turned out okay.
    Chairman Sablan. Yes. I like to think so. It wasn't 
perfect, but I think she did her best.
    And as our witnesses confirmed, skyrocketing costs are 
keeping parents across the country from securing the quality 
affordable child care they need for their children and families 
to thrive. Ms. Gonzalez, now a lawyer, can testify to that 
herself.
    Meanwhile, early childhood educators and child care workers 
themselves have been left with chronically low wages and little 
support for professional growth. Together, these challenges are 
dragging down our economy to the tune of $57 billion a year. 
And despite these issues, Federal investment in affordable and 
quality child care continues to fall woefully short and where 
states and local governments try to help where they can, as 
much as they can. And, as a result, we have a system in which 
only the wealthy have access to quality child care options, 
while the underserved families are left with few or often 
simply no affordable options for quality child care. The 
alternative that Ms. Gonzalez had or the alternative that I had 
personally, to get a relative to watch our child when I went 
out to dinner, is no longer available today as they were.
    So regardless of party affiliation, I think this is an 
American problem, not a Republican or Democratic problem. We 
should all agree that no parent should have to choose between 
keeping their job and paying for child care and no child should 
be denied the opportunity to learn and grow in a quality early 
learning environment because of their family income. We can and 
we must significantly increase Federal investments to improve 
the accessibility and quality of care so that all children and 
families have the support they need during their critical early 
years of life. And just as it is a critical early piece of 
life, I hope that today's hearing is a start also in getting 
Congress to--this committee and getting the House and the other 
body of Congress to start move forward legislation to provide 
some relief to this crisis that we have.
    So, I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure 
that our country sets all families on a path to a healthy and 
thriving future.
    And if there is--I guess there is no further business. 
Without objection, the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, 
Elementary, and Secondary Education stands adjourned. Thank 
you.
    [Additional submissions by Mr. DeSaulnier follow:]
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    
    
    
    [Additional submissions by Mrs. Foxx follow:]
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    
    
   
    
    United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) Report 
September 2019: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-
116HPRT43751/pdf/CPRT-116HPRT43751.pdf
    [Additional submissions by Chairman Sablan follow:]
    
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]       
   
    

    Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018: https://
www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CPRT-116HPRT43752/CPRT-116HPRT43752
    [Additional submission by Ms. Schrier follows:]
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    
    
    
    [Additional submissions by Ms. Shalala follow:]
    
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]    
    
    
    [Questions submitted for the record and their responses 
follow:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    [Ms. Harvey response to questions submitted for the record 
follows:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    [Ms. Morrisey response to questions submitted for the 
record follows:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


    [Ms. Smith response to questions submitted for the record 
follows:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    [Whereupon, at 12:04 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]